DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ A hiker discovered a wealthy traveler's remains on a skiing glacier in Switzerland. They turned out to be 400 years old.
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-09 | by ( Morgan Mcfall-Johnsen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

A hiker discovered the 400-year-old remains of a wealthy man on a glacier in the Swiss Alps. © Valais History Museum, Sion; Michel MartinezAll these items dated to around 1600 AD. Archaeologists uncover mule bones on the Theodul glacier in Switzerland, near Zermatt. © Valais History Museum, Sion; Michel MartinezHe wasn't a soldier-for-hire after all, a 2015 paper concluded. Andenmatten steps out of a freezer where artifacts are stored in the basement of the Valais History Museum archives.

Persons: Michel Martinez, They're, Pierre, Yves Nicod, Nicod, Ambroise Héritier, Morgan McFall, Johnsen, Sophie Providoli, It's, you've, haven't, Philippe Curdy, Romain Andenmatten, Spain's, Emilio Morenatti, Paul HANNY, Ötzi, Andenmatten Organizations: Service, . Business, Business, AP, Johnsen Archaeologists Locations: Swiss, Switzerland, Italy, Valais, Sion, du Valais, Zermatt, Germany, Aosta, Russia, Vilanova, Sau, Catalonia, Spain, Florida, Austria

☆ Naming a species after a celebrity may do more harm than good
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-12 | by ( Jenny Mcgrath | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

But it's very difficult to change a species' scientific name, and that can lead to regrets. The list of species named for celebrities is lengthy and includes everything from flies (Beyoncé) to lichen (Oprah Winfrey) to lizards (Lionel Messi). An eponym is a scientific species name based on a person, either real or fictional. AdvertisementAdvertisementUniversity of Oxford biologist Katie Blake and her co-authors found that species with celebrity names had almost three times as many page views on Wikipedia as non-famously monikered control species. AdvertisementAdvertisementSome examples include Adolf Hitler, Cecil Rhodes, and George Hibbert, all of whom have species named after them.

Persons: —, Taylor Swift, Leonardo DiCaprio, David Attenborough, Oprah Winfrey, Lionel Messi, Jimmy, Sericomyrmex radioheadi, Tarantobelus, roundworm, Jeff Daniels, Taylor Swift's millipede, Katie Blake, cuvier, Georges Cuvier, Andre Seale, Blake, Hitler, Christopher Bae, Adolf Hitler, Cecil Rhodes, George Hibbert, Sergio Pitamitz, Bae, Cecil John Rhodes, There's, heidelbergensis, CESAR MANSO, Rhodes, bodoensis, Bodo D'ar, Jimmy Buffett’s “, Hal Horowitz, Hibbert, George Rinhart, Stephen B, Heard, Charles Darwin's Barnacle, David Bowie's Spider Organizations: Service, Virginia Tech, University of Oxford, VW, Getty, University of Hawai'i, American Ornithological Society, NPR Locations: Mano, Slovenia, Africa, Rhodesia, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Right, Spain, AFP, Ethiopia

☆ Australia: Doctors remove 3-inch parasitic worm from woman's brain in world first
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-29 | by ( Kathleen Magramo | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

The finding unleashed a mad scramble to find out what exactly the parasite was, Canberra Hospital infectious disease expert Sanjaya Senanayake told CNN. “We were able to send the live wiggling worm to him, and he was able to look at it and immediately identify it,” Senanayake said. In this case, the patient was likely an accidental host of the worm, Senanayake said. “There’s more opportunities for humans, domestic animals and wild animals to interact with each other and the vegetation that’s out there. And of those emerging infections, about 75% were zoonotic, meaning there has been transmission from the animal world to the human world – including coronaviruses.

Persons: Dr, Hari Priya Bandi, ” Bandi, Sanjaya Senanayake, “, ” Senanayake, ”, Senanayake, Hossain M, Kennedy KJ, Wilson HL Senanayake Organizations: CNN, Australian National University, Canberra Hospital, Wilson, US Centers for Disease Control, Prevention Locations: Canberra, New South Wales, Australia

☆ Scientists have revived 'zombie' bugs and viruses before that were trapped in ancient ice. One may have been 8 million years old.
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-31 | by ( Marianne Guenot | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Scientists have previously revived ancient bacteria and prehistoric viruses that had been trapped. Scientists have a long record of resurrecting prehistoric viruses and ancient bacteria frozen in ice. However, as the climate crisis is melting ancient ice sheets worldwide, experts are growing concerned that prehistoric viruses could pose a risk to humanity. Other research has found 28 prehistoric viruses dating back 15,000 years in frozen ice cores. It's very difficult to keep samples pristine when extracting ancient ice, and even more difficult to conclusively date the ice.

Persons: Lonnie Thompson, Jean, Michel Claverie, it's, Birgitta Evengård, It's, hadn't Organizations: Service, Privacy, The Ohio State University, Byrd, Climate Research, Umea University, CNN Locations: Yao, Tibetan, French, Antarctica, Russia

☆ A worm has been revived after 46,000 years in the Siberian permafrost
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-28 | by ( Issy Ronald | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —Scientists have revived a worm that was frozen 46,000 years ago — at a time when woolly mammoths, sabre-toothed tigers and giant elks still roamed the Earth. This a major finding,” he said, adding that other organisms previously revived from this state had survived for decades rather than millennia. Five years ago, scientists from the Institute of Physicochemical and Biological Problems in Soil Science in Russia found two roundworm species in the Siberian permafrost. The worm was found in the Siberian permafrost. But still, they didn’t know whether the worm was a known species.

Persons: Teymuras Kurzchalia, Kurzchalia, ”, Anastasia Shatilovich, Panagrolaimus kolymaenis, kolymaenis, —, Philipp Schiffer, Schiffer Organizations: CNN —, elks, Max Planck, Molecular Cell Biology, Institute of Physicochemical, PLOS Genetics, of Zoology, University of Cologne, CNN Locations: Dresden, Science, Russia, Germany, Cologne

☆ A 46,000-year-old worm found in Siberian permafrost was brought back to life, and started having babies
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-28 | by ( Rebecca Cohen | Jenny Mcgrath | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Scientists revived a 46,000-year-old worm that was living in Siberian permafrost. When they brought it back to life, the worm started having babies. When they revived it, the worm started having babies via a process called parthenogenesis, which doesn't require a mate. According to a press release, the worm spent thousands of years in a type of dormancy called cryptobiosis. This new species, however, called Panagrolaimus kolymaensis, was dormant for tens of thousands of years longer.

Persons: Plectus, Holly Bik, William Crow, Crow Organizations: Service, Privacy, Scientists, Washington Post, University of Hawaiʻi, PLOS Genetics, University of Florida Locations: Wall, Silicon, Mānoa, tundras

☆ Ancient toilets unearthed in Jerusalem reveal a debilitating and sometimes fatal disease
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-25 | by ( Katie Hunt | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —The Iron Age users of two ancient toilets in Jerusalem were not a healthy bunch, according to an analysis of poop samples from the 2,500-year-old latrines. Ancient poop contains a trove of fascinating informationA stone toilet seat was excavated in 2019 south of Jerusalem in the neighborhood of Armon ha-Natziv. Archaeologists excavating the latrines took samples from sediment in the cesspit beneath each toilet seat. They found one seat south of Jerusalem in the neighborhood of Armon ha-Natziv at a mansion excavated in 2019. Cities such as Jerusalem likely would have been hot spots for disease outbreaks, and illnesses would have spread easily by traders and during military expeditions, according to the study.

Search resuls for: "roundworm"

7 mentions found